SICILIAN STONEHENGE

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Created on Monday, 10 April 2017 09:49

There is a mysterious stone construction in Gela, situated on the south coast of Sicily. It was discovered by a group of archeology lovers four months ago.

A few weeks ago, however, this find became one of the most significant to understand prehistoric times. It turned out that a non-typical arrangement of stones is an Italian equivalent of the famous Stonehenge. The scientists have already proved that the round hole in the rock, which is more than 7 metres high, is a result of human activity.

The stone construction was most probably used as an enormous calendar or a sundial. It was a holy place with a ritual significance. The Sicilian Stonehenge was carved by ancient stonemasons in Neolith and Bronze eras, between 6000 and 3000 BC. After doing a thorough analysis it turned out that everything is still working and still let us predict when seasons change. For example, on 21 December (winter solstice) at 7.23 am the dial fully covered the hole carved in the rock! The experts used GPS drones, cameras and compasses to check if the sundial works. They proved that the sundial is able to determine precisely when seasons change. And this is not all. A similar, but slightly smaller, rock was discovered south of the Sicilian Stonehenge. According to the hypothesis presented by the scientists, the rock was a part of a set. The archaeologists believe that the find will open up many scientific opportunities. They also hope that there are more unusual and valuable objects still waiting to be discovered.